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Method

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan.
Put the beef in a bowl, sprinkle with the
flour and seasoning, then mix until well
coated. Fry in batches, adding more oil
if necessary, until everything is well
browned. Transfer to a casserole dish.

Add another tbsp oil to the pan and
stir in the onion and carrots. Cover
and gently cook for 10-12 mins until
softened, then remove the lid and cook
until just beginning to brown. Stir in the
garlic and cook for 1 min more. Pour in
the wine and stir well, letting it boil up
for 1 min, then pour the whole mixture
over the meat. Add the stock, bay leaves
and thyme, bring to a simmer, then
cover and gently simmer for 2½ hrs until
the meat is very tender. If the sauce
looks a bit thin, remove the lid and
continue to cook until it thickens. Eat
half now; chill or freeze the rest for later (see 'Goes well with' for ideas on using the rest of the stew).

Comments

Loved this served on mashed potatoes so tasty. The flour batching takes time but def worth the effort sealing in the flavour of the beef and a melt in the mouth result.
The Italian cottage pie with the 2nd half is in the oven now!

Wow. Highly impressed about the texture of all the ingredients. I didn't even opt for pricy beef, i got just regular beef from tescoo but my stew was well completed with luxurious taste. I cooked it for welcoming my friend back from Greece to England. One thing I feel sad about is somehow the handle of my casserole dish has been taken apart from the lid, while it was cooking inside of the oven. Apart from that, everything was Excellent!!

I cooked this dish for dinner this evening and it was amazing! I served it with creamy mash, and it was to die for. I cooked it for less than 8 people, so I halved all of the ingredients and it worked perfectly.
I'm at University and this was just the winter-warmer dish I needed to make me feel like I was back at home for Sunday dinner. Would definitely cook this again!

Lovely easy recipe. Had nice quality meat, threw in a few shallots as well and extra bay leaves and thyme. Turned it into Italian Cottage Pie so mixed in fried off bacon towards the end (if I'd read that recipe properly I would have just added the bacon at the start of stew). Will definitely do this again.

Cooked this lovely dish for 10 people so increased the ingredients slightly. Went down very well with everyone, The meat just fell apart as it was so tender. Full of flavour too. Served with potato and parsnip mash and roasted courgettes, onions, leeks and dill.

That was lovely, I really recommend making this dish.
I even made the cottage pie and pasta dish from the stew which were fantastic. Once all the ingredients are prepared, it requires very little time! I will make this over and over again.

I bought the best cuts of beef from my local Scottish butchers and the other ingredients were locally sourced as much as possible. This peasant dish is fit for a king. I plated up in old-timey white enamel tin dishes and sat back to enjoy the savoury goodness. Serve this at your next gathering of close friends and family who deserve such goodness! A total winner. (Tip: reduce stock at start or be prepared to reduce for an hour sans pot lid. I added sauteed chestnut mushrooms to absorb excess liquid.)

Beef was lovely and tender and it was vey easy to make. My only complaint was that it was a little bland although my husband thought it was great. I have the other half left to use later this week and think I'll try the pasta dish recommended.

Very good end result. Super tender meat, and tasty sauce. A bit laborious since you need to fry the beef in batches, that took quite some time. But well worth the effort. Today will be trying out the suggestion to use up the second half of it.

@fat81
i use pure red/white grape juice (non concentrate) rather than wine when i cook.

For me i found this too watery but i did make it in a slow cooker, will probably try to make it again properly, next time i'll use 2 stock pots rather than one. Excited to use the leftovers to make the italian cottage pie though!

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